Shaikh Khalifa made this call while receiving the Head of the Hamas politburo Khaled Meshaal at Al Bateen Palace in Abu Dhabi yesterday. General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, was present at the meeting.
The President said that the Palestinian national unity should form the cornerstone of the movement as to help succeed a just and peaceful settlement based on all the legitimate international resolutions as well as the Arab Peace Initiative.
Shaikh Khalifa called on various factions on the Palestinian front to triumph over differences and uphold the paramount interests of the Palestinian people.
He expressed optimism over the success of ongoing efforts by Egypt to calm the strife as a way to put an end to the day-to-day sufferings of the Palestinian people in the occupied lands in general, and in Gaza in particular. He also expressed hope that the efforts to establish comprehensive and just peace will succeed.
During the meeting with the Hamas strategist, Shaikh Khalifa reviewed the overall progress of the truce talks with Israel, as well as the Palestinaian-Palestinain Dialogue for achieving Palestinian national unity defeating all forms of divisions among the Palestinians.
Khaled Meshaal hailed Shaikh Khalifa’s stance towards the Palestinian movement and his benevolent support to the Palestinian people.
He also said that the national assembly has the right to amend the law to allow tribal primaries and the Interior Ministry will implement laws issued by the Assembly. Deputy speaker MP Fahad Al-Azemi later submitted a draft law calling to amend the election law with the aim to cancel the clause that bans tribal election.
At least 18 MPs of the 50-member parliament were elected through tribal primaries, including MP Azemi himself. MPs also strongly condemned the US decision to freeze the assets of the RIHS and later voted to issue a statement to defend the Kuwaiti charity organizations and condemn the US decision. The US Treasury Department on Friday froze the assets of RIHS headquarters in the United States and banned US nationals from dealing with it on allegation of funding Al-Qaeda and terrorism, accusations that have been strongly denied by the Kuwaiti government and RIHS.
State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Faisal Al-Hajji however denied that certain foreign sides will be allowed to examine the activities and accounts of Kuwaiti Islamic charities. He said that the ministry of social affairs and labor is concerned with this and "we will not allow any country to interfere in our work. We have strong relations with friendly countries but we will not allow any country to interfere in our affairs". Meanwhile, four liberal MPs have submitted a draft law calling to increase housing loans to citizens from KD70,000 to KD100,000. The bill was signed by MPs Ali Al-Rashed, Mohammad Al-Saqer, Mohammad Al-Abduljader and Saleh Al-Mulla.
